TEN FAVORITE CHRISTMAS THINGS

1. Reading the Christmas story from Luke.
2. Twinkling lights.
3. The sky always seems to get crystal clear at Christmas time.
4. Creating joy for the children that I gift.
5. Being with family.
6. Solstice.
7. If you catch an afternoon moonrise at this time of year (the 31st this year) it is always magnificent.
8. Remembering Christmases past.
9. Enjoying Christmas present.
10.The friendliness of people this time of year (leave a comment if you read this).

FAVORITE THINGS, VOL. 3 / BEIGNET'S WINGS CAUGHT

1. Clean desks.
2. My miniature basket collection
3. Writing with a good old fountain pen, given me by my Dad
4. Old things out of place.
5. Temporary collections (like the seashells sitting by my desk from Bainbridge Island).
6. Christmas carols.
7. Old wooden boxes.
8. Soft skinned babies.
9. Well behaved children (which means the parents have worked on this).
10.Handmade tools.
and last but not least tonight I experienced this.
11.Being able to burp when the tummy hurts (Didn't God make us wondrously!)

I'm thankful tonight that we didn't have to make an emergency trip to the avian vet. Beignet caught her wings in the cords for the curtain and wrapped them around her wing and twisted them around her feet. She was very upset and scolding, but she didn't bit once. We were so proud of her. I asked her later and she lifted her wings to show me they were find and shook her head yes, they were just fine. I'm so glad I can communicate with her. I'm also so glad she didn't get hurt. We have a few changes to make.

FAVORITE THINGS, VOL. 2

1. Waking up early in the morning refreshed.
2. Getting my hair washed at a salon.
3. Listening to Samuel Barber's Adagio for Strings.
4. Cuddles from Beignet.
5. Picking up seashells (ranks high on my favorites list).
6. School supplies. The very thought of them makes me drool uncontrollably...!
7. My grandson Sam.
8. Pictures of Sam.
9. Videos of Sam.
10. Talking to Sam on the phone.

As you can see in this particular post, Sam is nearly half of all of my favorite things. I love his smile and his laugh and sense of humor.

TEN OF MY FAVORITE THINGS

1. Raindrops twinkling on bare branches.
2. Layered dusky mountain ranges.
3. My two red tabby cats now four at Halloween and still kittens.
4. My sweetheart parrot Beignet who continues to astound me with her wisdom.
5. My husband who loves me so dearly and has taken care of me when I was sick with flu.
6. Wind in the trees and the perfume that it creates.
7. Crunchy tart apples in fall.
8. Tofutti sour cream and cream cheese. Life savers for the dairy intolerant.
9. Fat crunchy grapes that burst in your mouth. Beignet likes these too.
10.Ticking clocks. They remind me that time passes and that I am using the ticks.

One more my sister and I share...fresh black smooth asphalt.

ONE THING MONDAY

This week it is one thing and only one thing. Refreshment after vacation. I am renewed! That is all I want to say!

FOUR THINGS FRIDAY

It has been a busy week, so Tuesday has gone and here is Friday. Beignet is sitting on her little portable perch beside me and she wants to write something:

rrrrrrrrrrs reza. That is Beignet's message to everybody. She stood on the keys.

1. I so love that Beignet continues to grow in her abilities. She now whistles a specific number of times and I reply the same number of times. Then she says, "Good Girl!" She has become a teacher and I'm the student:D.

2. The sun is still shining here in Washington and I feel grateful for each ray of sunshine. Soon the rain will be here and we will experience all the colors of the grey spectrum which I personally find quite interesting. Good thing, because here we get rain forest type of rain all the time.

3. I'm grateful for the friends that are in my life and for their support to me and for the times I can lend support to them. If the whole world functioned on this simple system we would have peace.

4. Okay, I was going to wane philosophical on this one, so I'll put it into a more personal mode: I love my husband so much and I love that he loves me back. I love our life together and the way we are able to work side by side. I love the little things of love that happen when we work side by side, the tiny little things that make marriage a good thing like the wink of an eye or a giggle at the right moment or a simple glance. Connection to each other with regularity is what makes it work. I think every couple should prepare their dinner together. The dynamics of work together for a common goal provides a significant means to great camaraderie in a marriage. For this I have profound thankfulness.

LATE 10 THINGS TUESDAY

Okay folks, we were at Detroit Lake State Park last week and had a blast. We took 8 month old Sam swimming in his first COLD water. He loved it (and was wearing an appropriate life jacket). He is going to be a fish just like his Mom. This was the first time in 14 years (how time flies) that we went camping.

I missed my 10 Things Tuesday column, so here goes for last Tuesday:

1. Wow, it looks like it's going to be warm today

2. I want to go swimming right away.

3. Boy, I'm hungry.

4. Need a nap.

5. Aargh, sun on tent, napper too hot.

6. Why did we swim this morning? We should go now.

7. Mmm. Spaghetti is on the menu.

8. Mmmmmmm. Bob makes great spaghetti.

9. My assigned job - drying dishes.

10. Toasted marshmallows, then brush teeth and off to bed. A fine day at the lake.

The next day we swam in the afternoon and it was fabulous. Snorkeling is one of my favorite things even though I have to override that very strong human law that says, "Do not breathe when the face is in the water - no matter what!!!!!". It is always amusing to me how strong that law is, even though the brain knows that the snorkel will bring the air to the mouth. It always takes me a few breaths to get it regulated. The first few are jerky, untrusting and downright scary.

Sam and I had this fabulous little game of peek-a-boo going one night as I babysat. I loved it. That is his picture at the top. His mother tells me this morning that he has begun standing up on his knees. He wanted to be in the play pen during the week because then he got to stand up. I think he is going to be walking before we know it. He is a real acrobat.